Foibles Episode 31: Narcissists, Assassins, and Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov

Vladimir Nabokov (1899 - 1977)

 

Recommended:

Pale Fire (1962) - Parallel stories told through an epic poem and the annotation to the poem. Brilliant layering of clues, leaving the reader to decide how unreliable the narrator is - and who he is

 

Pnin (1957) - Pnin is a professor at the same college where John Shade and Charles Kinbote for Pale Fire teach. Pnin is mentioned in Pale Fire. 

 

Lolita (1958) - The novel that made Nabokov wealthy and famous. The Stanley Kubrick movie adaptation is marvelous - Lolita (1962). The 1998 film version lacks the spark of Kubrick’s vision. 

 

Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi (2003) - compelling memoir of stolen pleasure in literature

 

Thank you to Powerbleeder for the theme song "Future Mind" listen here!